An underused Rotherhithe park is set for a new football pitch thanks to a £20,000 grant from Southwark Council.
Local dad Anver Imam started casual football sessions on Mayflower Park roughly three years ago and it has snowballed into a regular fixture.
The humble kick-about is now hoping to swap out its bags and jumpers for actual goalposts and get a pitch outlined in the grass.
Anver said: “Basically, I was taking my kids out on a Sunday to play football and it just grew from there.
“It’s grown to like 22 players. People who walked by and watched us play have become regular faces. You’ll even get older people walking by who will show us their touch!
“I thought I should apply for some funding to get some goals put in and Southwark Council thought it was a great idea.”
Anver, an ex-Aeronautical Engineer who now runs his own company, hopes to get local businesses involved.
Local community project The Paper Garden, based in Canada Water’s former Daily Mail print works, has discussed building wooden goalposts.
Surrey Docks Farm has also been in talks about planting special-coloured grass for the pitch lines instead of using chalk.
“We want to keep it natural to its surroundings,” Anver explained.
Southwark Council would have to approve whichever contractors are selected. Anver and his son Adam, aged eleven, are looking forward to working with them.
The new pitch would be free for anyone to use but could also potentially provide training facilities for a local team.
If there is money spare, Anver would also like to install an outdoor gym or table tennis table in the park.
Despite only starting up three years ago, one big business already backs the causal football sessions.
Hardware supplier Screwfix has got the kids playing in sponsored bibs saying ‘the choice of champions’.